Adam nickel



A. NICKEL.

PIANO ACTION.

(No Modell) No. 585,829. Patented July 6, 1897.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OEETCE.

ADAM NICKEL, OF NEV YORK, N. Y.

PIANO-ACTION.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 585,829, dated July 6, 1897. Application filed April 5,1897. Serial No. 630,707. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, ADAM NICKEL, of New York city, New York, have invented an Improved Piano-Action, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improvement in that class oi piano-actions in which the reach of the action is increased when the soft pedal is depressed, so as to prevent any dead motion between key and hammer, while at the same time the full stroke of the key is maintained.

Then the hammer is in its half-stroke 'position, the leverage of actions of this class is insuiii cient to properly return the key to its normal position. In order to insure this prompt return, I have devised a spring attachment which will come 4into play automatically by the depression of the soft pedal and will assist the action to properly return the key as long as such soft pedal remains depressed.

n In this way the touch of the action remains practically uniform whether the soft pedal is used or not.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a side elevation of the end of the action, showing more particularly the mechanism for raising the hammers into their halt`-stroke position upon a depression of the soft pedal. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the action proper, showing the position of the parts when the soft pedal is raised. Fig. 3 is a similar view showing the position of the parts when the soft pedal is depressed. Fig. 4 is a crosssection through the rear part of the action on line 4 Ll, Fig. 2.

Upon the depression of the soft pedal the hammer'is raised into its half-stroke position, and consequently the reach of the action must be increased if loose motion between the key and the hammer is to be avoided. Means for increasing such reach are illustrated in Patent No. 566,928, granted to me September l, 1800. They may consist in effeet of a small lever a, which is pivotally connected to the wippen l and is tilted with its front end upward upon a depression of the soft pedal, so as to raise the action, without, however, opening up any spaces in which dead motion may take place. The lever a is actuated by the lifter c of the soft pedal through levers d e and rod f, all as more fully described in the patent referred to.

It is clear that when the hammer gis raised, together with the action, in the manner described, into its halt-stroke position the leverage of the action, upon 'falling away from the string, is reduced, and consequently the impetus imparted to the key is insuflioient to properly return it to its normal position. The touch of the action will therefore suffer unless additional means are provided which will come into play only upon a depression of the soft pedal and which will then assist the action to properly return the key at its end A' to its normal elevation. I have devised such means and will now proceed to more fully describe the same.

'Across the rear of the action there extends a rock-shaft h, journaled in suitable bearings in which it is adapted to be rocked by the motion of the soft pedal. This result may be attained by connecting a crank-arm 7L of rockshaft h to the lever CZ by means of a link j. The lever CZ, being actuated by litter c, will thus rock the shaft 7L forward when the lifter is raised and backward when the lifter is lowered. The rock-shaft h is provided with a forwardlyextending liange, finger, or feather h2, which is normally tilted upward and is then entirely out of action, Fig. 2. VJhen,

however, the lifter is raised for pianissimo playing, the flange h2 will be swung downward to engage a spring fr', extending rearwardly from wippen l), Fig. 3, and across the path of the flange. At the same time that the iiange h2 is thus lowered the action itself is raised, and its reach is increased by the tilting of lever a. Thus the flange h2 will at once put the spring i' under tension, and the spring will consequently have the tendency to force the wippen downward and the key A with its tree end A upward.

While the action is in its half-stroke posi* tion, this increased tension will thus be con stantly exercised to assist the action as it falls away from the string to return the key to its normal position. As soon as the soft pedal is released and the parts resume their normal position, Fig. 2, this additional tension at once ceases, because the liange h2 will release the spring i. Thus I obtain the impor- IOO 15 shaft adapted to be actuated by the soft pedal and with a spring adapted to be engaged by the rock-shaft, and to increase the tension of the action upon a depression of the soft pedal, substantially as specified.

3. A piano-action provided with a Wippen, a spring extending rearwardly therefrom, a flanged rock-shaft, means for increasing the reach of the action, and means for simultaneously rocking the rock-shaft to engage or disengage the spring, substantially as spcci- 25 lied.

ADAM NICKEL. Witnesses PHILIP MENGES, F. V. BRIEsEN. 

